The Phoenix Chronicles
by jmhvideogamer
Summary: Set in the near-future from the end of the series, Tobias has left the group and has joined up with the Army to instruct others about life outside our planet. An RP between me and my friend, Eva. I'm Jet, she's Tobias. Read, enjoy, and review please!
1. Chapter 1

**He'd never taught before. Sure, he'd undergone the usual training in order to be…able to train other people, but until now, he'd never really thought he would get to use it. Have to use it, rather. He'd never been a people-person, really…but that didn't stop him, not now. Not anymore, after all he'd been through – he could fake it. That icy cold exterior he still had from years of not using any facial muscles helped, of course, in this instance, and he made sure he was able to maintain that, even though he had been human for some time before they gave him his own 'class' to teach.**

**Tobias stood there, in the indoor training room (not that they'd be doing any physical training that day – it was sort of like driver's ed, they just threw him in whatever room they could find that wasn't being used at that hour), watching as people started filing in through the door of the great chamber, lining up according to…whatever system they chose to use, he didn't care. A hand went through his sandy-brown hair, making it only look more disheveled and unruly than it had before, since it refused to stay at the length he'd had it cut.**

**And there they were…the people who'd volunteered for this, and been lucky enough to be chosen by the Admiral to be here, the ones with the best records for what he and the Admiral had thought they'd need in this instance. This wasn't Sunday school…this was the start of something new, something exciting to Tobias that he already know most of the material on – Aliens 101, so to speak.**

**---**

Jet groaned as he awoke to his blaring alarm. He sat up and ran a hand through his short but wild blonde hair. He reached his other hand to hit the off button on the alarm, but couldn't find it. He raised his hand up and down several times, trying to hit the stupid thing, but couldn't get it.

He sighed as he sat up and turned it off. He rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands and looked at the time. '_Oh, crap…_'He thought as he saw the time. He was supposed to be at the training facility for that new class in five minutes.

He leapt up and threw on a t-shirt and some jeans. He ran into his bathroom and splashed some water onto his face. He then raced out of his house and hopped on his bike.

Jet peddled and peddled, pushing his tired body to its limit. He was already red and a little sweaty. His hair rustled around in the air as if doing some kinda odd ritual dance.

He finally arrived at the building, throwing the bike out from under him and by luck catching good footing on the ground. He rushed in, searching for the room he was supposed to meet in. Pain rushed through his sore legs with nearly every step. Maybe staying up all night playing football with the guys wasn't the best choice.

Jet finally found the room and stopped in front of the closed double doors, letting out a huge sigh. He grabbed the handle and twisted it, walking into a class full of sitting people and a lecturing teacher.

He let out a nervous laugh and asked, "So, what'd I miss?"

**---**

"**This is not a class to be late for," he was just saying, as the tardy student entered the room. He couldn't help but roll his eyes. Not another one…not another Marco or Desi. He couldn't take this many of them. **

"**Just the whole, you're in the military now so don't be late or you get to clean toilets deal," Tobias replied at the question of what he'd missed, heh. "Worse. I'll make you ****clean the rooms we keep the aliens in upstairs. Don't let it happen again, and don't disrupt my class anymore."**

**He was a hard-ass, after all. Stone solid in both disposition and physical demeanor. He was no longer the Tobias of old, no; nobody would ever be able to tell they were the same two people. For one thing, he now looked to be the age he actually was, and should be. Other such differences, his hair had darkened with age, a genetic trait found in many light-haired children, and being in the army for a while had taken its toll – he was no longer the shy bully magnet (nor was he overly developed), thanks to countless sleepless nights spent in the gym rather than in bed, for lack of anything else to do around there in the middle of the night.**

**The only thing remaining of either of his previous lifestyles was a slightly golden tinge to his otherwise perfectly normal eyes – golden flecks, like those you'd find in a hawk.**

"**And if you can't handle a fight, this isn't the class for you. This is something different. We will be learning and discussing various types of alien species, as well as their cultures, traditions, brief histories of the species you'll most ****likely come into contact with. And we'll also be learning a couple of fighting styles from at least two different ET's (extra-terrestrials), along with how to possibly survive an attack while you're human and they have sharp pointy parts to their bodies. Any questions?"**

**---**

If this had been an anime cartoon, a big drop of sweat would have quickly dropped down Jet's forehead. He grinned nervously and ran a hand through his hand before quickly scooting to an empty seat in the back.

He didn't take the teacher seriously when he talked about the aliens upstairs. The comment was just dismissed as some stupid crap teachers say to loosen up the students and try to become friendlier with them.

Until the next little lecture that is. He wondered if the teacher actually believed what he was saying.

At the end, Jet let out a small laugh that the whole class could hear. "Aliens?" He mockingly asked. "So, what, we gonna dissect Marvin the Martian or something?"


	2. Chapter 2

**There, those innately sharp eyes closing in like...a hawk... at the student, his prey. "You wanna see Marvin the Martian? I'll show you my friend Marvin out of morph and you'll shit yourself. Apparently you aren't one of the several of us in this class who've actually been face-to-face with these beings..." Tobias mentioned, looking around the group. **

**Some were smirking with Jet, others looked at him as if they wondered how he could even think of saying such things to the teacher, who they'd been told studied aliens for years. "Though that would be fun, dissecting something, no, it's not included in the class curriculum," he clarified, but had to get that little jab about the boy crapping his pants if he saw a real alien. Hehe. "But I will be bringing in live specimens of certain species to better illustrate the ..." blah blah blah. I even get bored typing this crap. **

---

"Heh, yeah right," Jet mumbled. "Shit myself…" At least he had made a few kids laugh. He was glad with that.

He may have been a joker, but he took notes of almost exactly everything that the professor had said. He had a nearly perfect photographic memory and had always gotten straight A's in school. This may have been part of the reason that he was chosen for this class.

Afterwards, he walked past the professor, watching him carefully and staring directly into his eyes for a second or two. He smirked smart-alecky as ever and stood there, waiting for the rest of the students to leave.

He then walked up to the professor. "So, Mr. um… Tobias? Is this shit for real? Are they actually allowed to talk about this stuff publicly? I mean, I heard about the whole war that happened here, years ago, but most of what I heard were stories and didn't really think it was true," Jet said.

---

**"Rumors," he nodded, taking that in stride a bit, really. "Well, believe several of them, they are true. This isn't a joke of a class, and if you're here to learn about star trek and Mr. Spock and all that...well, I know that too, but uh...this is only about the real ones that're out there. You can still drop the class, you know," he couldn't see someone who wasn't believing this being in his class, that was for certain.**

**"They're very real, and if you don't treat them with due respect, there are very real consequences to knowing the material I'm going to be going over in class..." he threw in there, sort of looking the student over with those critical eyes of his. **

**"If you manage to make it back to my classroom tomorrow...make sure you're on time. I know it's early, but it's still the military. Besides, if you get here for the whole thing, you might actually learn something," he felt the need to throw in there, looking around as the room finished emptying out. **

---

"So… They are real," Jet lightly said after the Professor's talk, his eyes seeming to light up. He had dreamed about life outside earth forever, now knowing that it was real. The war had particularly interested him, but he only found weird theory and online cult sites about it.

"Hey, umm, Prof, if we aren't going to discuss the war in class, can you tell me about it and the human heroes who helped stop it after class some time?" He asked, kinda nervously, he knew the Professor didn't like him and thought that he might say no.


	3. Chapter 3

**Did he have to ask this? This one question? Tobias couldn't help but slightly wince at the question, and immediately began to shake his head at the student.**

"**No. No, I don't discuss the Animorphs. That I leave to Jake Berenson, and Marco, and the books they've written on it, however fictional they turned out to be. I was too close to it. I don't teach my memories of war to anyone," he shook his head again, there, staring the kid in the eyes to make sure he knew he was serious.**

**This was one thing Tobias hated talking about. He always hated thinking about it... fighting, the bloodshed, the misled morphs, those lost. He was lost, in it...in a way; he died in that war, fighting the good fight. But that death still left a shudder of pain throughout his being every time someone brought it up.**

Wow, that was quite a shocking turn of events. Jet nodded his head and turned away from the professor. "Yeah… Ok… Sorry…" Jet apologized quietly, looking down at the ground as he walked out. "At least I know it's true now…"

He slightly grinned as he left. And why not? Sure he felt bad about bringing up the sorry memories for the professor, but he had learned something that would be of great value to him.

'_Berenson, right? And he also said ''Animorphs''… _' That's all that passed through Jet's mind as he headed to the public library. He would learn, even if the professor didn't want Jet too. That was just the rebelliousness inside of him.

That next morning, Jet yawned as he woke up to the blaring of the alarm. He threw a book with a person in half-morph off of his face onto a pile of other books resembling it. He turned his head to the clock by his bed. _'Shit…_'

He launched out of bed and tore his shirt off and threw a new one on. He rushed towards his class, making it just a minute or two after it was time to be there. He snuck into his seat, and rubbed his face, bags under his eyes, which were about to battle for consciousness.

"**So Taxxons, unlike most other species you'll find out there are, externally, made out of goo, rather than completely solid matter. The Andalites have a theory that it has something to do with the specific type of radiation their planet puts out. Mr. Brooks," he interrupted himself to bring attention to the one about to fall asleep in his class. "What can YOU tell ME about Taxxons and their planet?" Putting him on the spot already, heh. ****"What is so special about a gooey worm that warrants the species, in the mind of our former enemies the yeerks' minds, a species worth interacting with and-or using?" A slight stare, ****and a few turned to look at Jet, there.**** "I mean, you keep coming in late, interrupting my class, you must know this stuff already, right?" Tobias had to. Couldn't help himself.**

Wha-? Was he being called on? Time to turn the tables on the teach.

"Taxxons you say?" Jet asked, rubbing his face, inwardly praising Mr. Berenson for publishing those books. "If I am correct, Taxxons have an insatiable hunger for flesh: when they sense blood, their urge to eat is so strong not even their Yeerk can stop them. They eat anything dead, nearly dead, or, well, y'know, anything that won't kill them while they're eating it. Taxxons are highly cannibalistic, and will even turn on each other at the first sign of weakness," Jet said, summarizing up everything he could remember. "And the Yeerks like to use them for their how deadly they are. Not much can stop a ten foot long crazy as fuck centipede, y'know. Oh, and they drive ships good."

"Oh," He added, very smart-assly. "And if I remember right, you've known thier blood-craving experience via morph, am I correct?"

Last night, Jet had checked out and read nearly every book in the series that had been written. It took him a while though to figure out that Jake and Marco had chosen to publish the books under a penname. He was impressed at how quickly they had written the books, noticing their characters in the books.


	4. Chapter 4

**Tobias made one of those jeopardy "eh-eh" sounds, almost comically perhaps, in front of the whole class, signifying that Jet had, indeed, gotten something in that answer wrong. He paced briefly in front of the class, there, while he spoke. "Wrong. See, there's one big huge difference between me and the Tobias you read about in the books I suggested last night. I'm not a hawk, and you guys can watch me if you like, but I don't have to demorph into anything every two hours. Everything else was correct about that, though. Taxxons ARE known for their bloodlust..." he went on about Taxxons, and why that bloodlust made them good watchdogs for the yeerks. **

**Because of his deal with the Ellimist, though, there was nothing but a name available for people to connect him with who he used to be, the Animorph. No -- common knowledge - and the end of the books - showed Tobias the Animorph as dead, and told absolutely nothing about his family ties with Elfangor. **

**"So, Mr. Brooks...keep reading. That was NEARLY impressive and almost made you sound like you know what you're talking about," he had to. Too many years of putting up with Marco had FINALLY given Tobias a sense of humor of his own. Another thing Jake's book didn't tell anyone.**

Jet copied Tobias's Jeopardy sound. "One thing about you, Teach, you assume. Assume about me and assume that you're all great," He retorted with a mischievous grin. "But what the books don't cover is the time between then and now. Maybe you became a nothlit in this form."

He gently twirled his pencil around in his finger.

"Or … That Ellimist fellow who can do _anything _and made you stop being a nothilit when you asked him to made another deal with you. Because you helped save the world maybe? Or perhaps it was to make up for keeping who your dad was from you." And with this, he shut up, grinning while watching the professor.

**Again, that noise came through. "And again...I'm not THAT Tobias. You assume that there's only one person in the world with the same name?" he pointed out. And then disapprovingly shook his head, though he was smirking. "Nice try, though. Nice deducing, and use of text to try and out fool the teacher, but still a resounding 'shut up, you're wrong!'." he said it quite dramatically, at that.**

**Heehee.**

**"My dad was not an alien from another planet stuck in human form, he was a computer software engineer. Though both met the same fate of being killed by a yeerk, that's about the only thing I have in common with the Animorph Tobias. Anyone else wanna try me on the question of who I am, or can we PLEASE get off the stinking animorphs and THAT Tobias and actually learn about aliens?"**

Again, it was Jet's turn for the Jeopardy noise. "You say that, Teach, _buuuuut_ I have a hard time believing that as you were the one who got all somber and silent at the mention of this after class yesterday," Jet stated. "And now you're getting all defensive about it. What's the reason for getting defensive class? That's right!!! To hide, to cover up. So please, don't lie to us and tell us what happened. Oh, and we are talking about our subject. The Animorphs, you, and the Yeerks are the cause for the course we're in."

He adjusted himself in his seat a bit and coughed gently. He wasn't in military school for his good looks after all.


	5. Chapter 5

**One last time (at least it better be the last time) Tobias made that noise. "Again, thinking you know everything. When did the students teach and the teacher had to be taught? Shouldn't it be the other way?" he shoved it in his face that Jet was getting out of line - it was almost a warning, considering this was the military and Tobias WAS, after all, his superior.**

**"Maybe I'm 'gettin all defensive in class' about it because yes, I was in it. But not in the way you think. Maybe I don't want to remember the blood on my hands, how many people I hurt, how many people I loved that I saw die, and how many people I loved that the Animorphs killed. All in the name of peace on earth and free will. Which are great things, I wouldn't take it back, but it's a little hard to let those deaths go when you've got something inside of you telling you how miserable you should be, day in and day out, and you can't shut it up because it's in your head. Maybe I'm just as screwed up as half the people in this class, most of which are shivering as I say this, because they were controllers for the war, they know what I'm talking about."**

**He took a moment to pause, and nodded for Jet to glance around the room at his classmates. Indeed, some looked near tears - men, young men, brave and able, and well-trained, paling and getting sick at the thought of the war, and the Animorphs, and all that was done. **

**"Maybe I'm trying to spare a few more people that agony again. So please, trust me, when I say that the only thing I have in common with an Animorph is my first name. Okay?"**

**It was serious, convincing. He almost believed it himself...but he'd been trained so well, nobody could be able to tell that it wasn't really the truth that he just knew how to pretend it was, act it out, play the part of a former slave to the Yeerk Empire. But in a way, hadn't he been? He'd had to hide out, keep himself locked up inside, so that he could make it through the next battle, kill people, creatures he'd never known. Fathers, daughters, mothers, brothers, sisters, uncles...how many families in the room had he helped destroy, in a different way from the Yeerks, but to the same effect - broken homes.**

Jet took a look around the room and looked at all the people who his outbursts had affected. He hung his head slightly and sighed. This was a hard sight to take

"Mr. Fangor," Jet sullenly said. "You are a commendable actor, but I'm gonna have to quit from our argument. I can't have people who have nothing to do with it being sad. It's… just wrong." He then looked back and forth across the class room and gulped. "Sorry guys. I didn't mean to be a dick."

For the rest of the class, Jet sat back quietly, taking notes and listening to the professor.

Had the teacher not mentioned the other students, Jet would have continued by asking him about Rachel's ashes, but as he thought of it, it would have made him an ass and he would have regretted asking it. He just wanted the truth, not to hurt anyone.

After class, the students poured out of the class. Jet waited until they were all gone and then he collected his things. He slowly walked out of the class, thinking about ways to prove who Tobias was.

**Tobias just gave him a rather dark look, with his last few words. Commendable actor, well, he liked to think so. Tobias unclenched his fist, trying to continue on and move past his frustrations with this imp who knew nothing about a real fight, real war, or what Tobias was capable of.**

**"Private Brooks," he called Jet over once the rest of the class was filing out of the room, after class, glaring at the student again. He was being formal, too, using rank (this being a military base with army members as students, not open to the general public). "Don't leave yet, come here. I'm going to talk and you're going to listen." **

**A few of the last students there actually looked almost frightened for the boy, but one at least smirked, muttering something about Jet deserving to get kicked out by the teacher. Tobias followed that last group to the door, and shut it, not locking it but standing by it as a guard, almost, leaving just the two of them in the room together. **

**"Being your commanding officer, there are certain things expected of you when you address me and interact with me. I'd hate to get a bright mind like yours kicked out when we could really use it, but if you're not going to focus on the actual class material, I will. I am not going to allow you to start on some witch-hunt to find the missing Animorph, and there's one place you're already looking now - " meaning Tobias himself "- that is both very dangerous and will not end well if you pursue that path. If you cannot drop this subject right here and now, I do not want you in this class. I commend you for finding interest in a subject, but it is not appropriate for the class when the class is not about the history of humans through our latest battle, it is about alien species. Not about a talk show host, not about an animal rights activist, or a political leader. About things that I actually take very seriously, because if we as a human people cannot build up the relationship with the other species out build up the relationship with the other species out there, we will lose next time.**

**"If you continue to look for the wrong things in this class, you have no idea what kind of effect you can have on not only your own standing within the group, but also within our relationship to aliens abroad. Stop looking for a bird in a small room. This is the last time I'm going to tell you this." Tobias kept his voice even the whole entire time, very calm, but so firm he perhaps rivaled the former Visser 3 he'd once faced in intensity and presence. Not evil, just firm, commanding. **

Jet approached his teacher, his so called "Commanding Officer". He didn't care to listen to what Tobias had to say, but he did anyways. He knew what the teacher was about to say.

Jet nodded through Tobias's little speech. "Yes sir," He said quietly at appropriate times through out it. He knew that the professor was right.

"Yeah, I'll drop the subject," Jet replied, once the professor said what he had to say. "During class that is. I'll find proof that you are who I say you are. I respect you, but this is an order I can't completely follow, sir."

"I'm not sure why you deny the truth. You've already told us of all the hurt you feel from the war. Well, most of it anyways. So you can't be trying to hide from pain. Are you too modest to admit you were a hero? That while lives were lost around and because of you, you also saved them? I doubt that, but it wouldn't surprise me." He lightly scratched the back of his head and looked down at the ground.

"You're a great person, Tobias," He said now looking the teacher in the eyes. "I don't know if this is what you're running from, but Rachel wasn't your fault, nor was it Jake's. It was the Yerrks's fault."

He thought about adding one little part to the end, but he felt like Tobias wouldn't want to hear about the fact that he was about to talk with Ms. "Applegate" tonight.


	6. Chapter 6

**"That's the thing, Mr. Brooks, if it were as simple as what you think it is, and if I actually WAS that Tobias, I'd gladly admit it. The Animorphs did a thing both great and terrible. But I'm not one of them, and I never have been, so you're going off the deep end here. I'm going to recommend you for psychological evaluation, and I'm going to tell General Jenkins about this. I want full reports from your chosen base-psychologist here, now that doesn't mean I need a detailed list of what you talk about with that person, I just need their analysis report. Obsession is not a healthy way to live, and you're not saying you're weak by admitting you need help, I myself see a shrink here on the base. But what you're saying you're going to do is unhealthy. Fabricating a story and what you call facts when there are none to support that story... It's okay. You'll be fine, okay? Just go see the good doctors."**

**Another approach, but honestly... there WEREN'T any facts to say he was an Animorph, so what did this kid have against him? It was downright annoying, really.**

**---**

Jet nodded and placed a hand on Tobias's shoulder with a chuckle. "Fine, fine, I'll do this whole Psyche thing, on one condition. Gimme a week. If I'm still a crazy-ramblin on about this junk with no proof to say other-wise… Send me to the Doc," He offered to Tobias. "I won't bug you about it and I won't be late till class either. Until that last day, it's good for dramatic effect y'know.

He then stuck his hand out to the professor, offering a shake.

---

**Tobias listened to him, and looked at the hand, and... With a brief pause after Jet had finished...he laughed. He laughed right there, in front of him. "Tell you what. You go to the shrink," he started, "or you don't come back to my class. I'm really going to be very adamant about this, because I'm NOT the person you think you can 'prove' I am, I never have been. Look...it's not really that bad of a thing, but I have to insist that you get psychiatric help with it. I think you could really benefit from a healthy psychological perspective, which the shrink can help you reach and maintain."**

**He was still just as adamant about it, and he would be. This kid was nuts... this kid drew conclusions because his name was Tobias and he'd mentioned the books, that was what this whole theory of Jet's was based off of. Someone telling him about a book to read.**

**---**

"But the thing is, I'm not crazy, and you know it. They don't know it though and that's why you're sending me there. To shut me up and get me out of your hair. It's not like I don't see what you're doing."

He walked out with a grin on his face. He was gonna have to make an after-hour visit to the shrink late tonight. But, before then, he had to make a phone call.

He got to his dormitory around 4 o'clock and grabbed a piece of paper with two ten digit long numbers. Above each was a name. _Jake _and_ Marco…._ He grinned and called the numbers, setting up his "plan" for next week.

Much later that night, Jet entered the Psychiatrist's office via stolen key. After searching around in the office for a bit, Jet found a stack of official looking paper. The Shrink's personal stationary. "Psychiatrist visits my ass," He mumbled, walking out and locked the door behind, leaving the key under the mat.


	7. Chapter 7

**Tobias was slightly impressed. He'd gotten good reports from Jet's shrink, Jet had been on time and everything...it was a good improvement, he thought. Now maybe he'd leave that Animorph crap alone. As the class settled in nearly a week later, he wrote in big letters across the chalk board. **

**It read: Hork Bajir. Wear workout apparel tomorrow for class, bring good shoes.**

**"Alright...today we're going to start on the subject of Hork-Bajir," he listed off, starting as everyone was still pulling out their notebooks and such. **

**---**

This week had been a boring hell. There was not much to do involving the Animorphs case. He had forged many reports for Tobias from his "shrink". He knew Tobias wouldn't fall for it much longer, but it wouldn't be relevant in about thirty minutes.

Jet sat in the class and watched as Tobias lectured the class. He yawned and wrote down notes efficiently, checking his watch much more often than would be normal. He then raised his hand and waited for Tobias to call on him. Once he was called on, he asked, "Umm, Tobias, sir… Do you think a Tiger and a Gorilla could take down a Hork-Bajir?"

That was part one of his signal. Once the question was answered, said Tiger and Gorilla would burst through the door, which Jet had conveniently chose to sit as close as possible today.

---

**Of course, Tobias was pleasantly unaware of such an ambush, heh. As Tobias called on and then listened to his question, he couldn't help but do his best to try and not roll his eyes.**

**"Well, Mr. Brooks, that would be an interesting topic of discussion. If it were a wild tiger or gorilla, they'd have a limited amount of reasons to be fighting a Hork-Bajir. A caged one even less so. If we're bringing up my least favorite subject again, however, that is an entirely different answer from both, and that is yes. But let's say a Hork-Bajir got too close to a wild tiger. It would have to be a really pissed off, dying, starvingly hungry tiger, of it would have to get too close to the female's young. The thing most people don't know is that tigers don't attack anything human-like, and Hork-Bajir have the same stance as a human might, according to what scientific American magazine says tigers look for, so there ARE limited circumstances as to where you'd see this happening, such as the tiger being emaciated and starving to death - starving tigers HAVE been known to go after humans. Don't let fictional TV shows tell you that perfectly normal, well-fed, capable hunting tigers will, out of the blue, attack a human. Or in this case, a Hork-Bajir. Any other questions about this before I move on?" he inquired.**

---

"No, none at all," Jet said as the doors behind him and slightly to his left (Tobias's right, in case you all were wondering) nearly flew off their hinges. A big, black, black Gorilla and a Siberian Tiger quickly and dramatically entered the room.

The students all turned to look at them, some were scared, others were amazed, and the rest were just really freakin confused.

The two animals approached Tobias and stopped next to him, being nearly toe to toe with him. They both then transformed in a pretty gross looking development into human adults about Tobias's age.

"Actually," The one who had come from the Gorilla, Marco, spoke up, "I gotta question. I believe Jet over there mentioned Gorillas in his question. Why didn't ya mention me, Bird-Boy?"


	8. Chapter 8

**Tobias hardly flinched as the doors were so rudely burst in on. Of course, as soon as he saw who-or what - was doing the breaking and entering (less so breaking, more entering), he calmly went over and tore up Jet's fake shrink's note, for the boy to see. **

**Then they got in his face and demorphed. Well...he calmly set the pieces of the note into the trashcan, and faced them both, as the three of them had their own version of a spaghetti western in the classroom.**

**"Look...I have no idea how he managed to convince such strong and noble minds such as your own," sarcasm was prevalent there, "to follow his little delusion, but I am NOT, nor have I ever been, the person you three are accusing me of being. Can I say that enough for the damn record?" He was through. He was just sick of it.**

**"I should've taken the General's suggestion and just gone with weapons training, but no, I had to go into UFOlogy," he muttered to himself, and rolled his eyes. "And I probably didn't mention you because of that, and because, in my opinion from what I've seen of the BOTH of you, neither one of you COULD take out a Hork-Bajir without talking it to death!"**

---

Jake nodded and smirked, looking over his shoulder at Jet. "You were right. He is in a total case of denial," He said before looking back to Tobias. "Tobias, knock it off. Unless you're Tobias' twin brother, also named Tobias, or some kinda weird clone, you're the real ex hawk Tobias who I grew up with and fought beside against the Yeerks. Yeah, we came here to help Jet, but we mostly did it because none of us have seen you in forever. And we miss you. Jet said he knew where you were and we came here to talk and settle some things out. Stop pretending and lying to all of these kids."

Marco nodded and added, "Um, yeah. What he said."

Jet grinned as he watched himself win.

---

**Except that Tobias looked nothing like his former self, other than the hair color. He was no longer the bully-magnet, he was bigger than the bullies, tougher and stronger (and a hell of a lot taller - talk about puberty). The eye color had changed, naturally, from being a hawk for so many years, but other than that, he really didn't look anything like the kid Jake saved from swirlies way back when.**

**"Denial, huh? Look...I don't know what he fed you, again, or maybe it's just something in the freak water you guys all drank from. I don't have any siblings, I'm not a clone, and I'm sure as hell NOT your bird boy. So look, I'm sorry you miss your friend, but he's not here. I'm sure you three want him to be, but you're s-o-l." (Shit-outta-luck)**

**He ran a hand through his hair, still denying it, still not wanting the ENTIRE PUBLIC AND CLASS to know about it. **

**"So unless you'd like to sit in for the rest of the lecture on Hork-Bajir, since you've heard some of it already, there's nothing I can do for you other than point you in the direction of wherever you last saw him."**

---

Jake looked Tobias in the eyes and slightly shook his head. "You look a little bit different, but everyone does when they grow up. Marco and I look loads different from when you last saw us, but I saw in your eyes that you recognized us immediately, despite the whole morphing thing," He said softly and turned. "We'll sit in for now."

As they walked to the seats, Marco let out an annoyed sigh. "I'm sleeping. Don't yell at me," He added before slouching forward in one of the desks and closing his eyes.


	9. Chapter 9

**"If you snore, you're not sleeping here," he said, flatly. "And anyone can recognize you two, you're on tv enough, idiots," he rolled his eyes at that much, of course. Everyone knew that Jake loved the Tiger morph and Marco was an ape. I mean...morph-wise...innocent whistle.**

**But Tobias wasn't the same after that. His teaching had been thrown off by them, and that was apparent. He was explaining things less, rushing the lesson, and let everybody out early with only one warning.**

**"I mean it when I say wear workout gear tomorrow, everyone!" he called as they rushed out.**

---

Jet studied Tobias after the conversation. He was obviously nervous. Anyone could see that. But it wasn't nervousness from stardom.

"And now you're a PE teacher too, Tobias?" Marco spoke up as the students left, lifting his head up and quickly dropped it. "You have reached the epitome of evil."

Jake stood up and walked towards Tobias. "So, are you going to talk to me now?" He asked seriously. "The kids are gone. You can quit playing charades."

---

**"No, Jake. No, I'm not going to talk to you," he shook his head there, taking in a deep breath. "In fact, I never really wanted to talk to you guys again, thank you so much for possibly ruining my peaceful life of normalcy, or as close as a freak of nature like me can get to it."**

**After all, his dad was an alien from another planet who could shape-shift and met his mom saving her from galactic zookeepers, which led to the creation of a new planet entirely thanks to the technology of the Ellimist that'd been lost by said very powerful being, and the creation of the biggest evil of their times - the Abomination. Yeah. Normal. Heh.**

**"I didn't even want to talk to you the last time I saw you, did I? Get used to it."**

**With that, Tobias grabbed his army-issue coat, and headed for the door.**

---

Jet shook his head and laughed slightly. "Watch it, prof. It's bad to get so moody," He mumbled before he walked over to Marco and started poking him so that he'd wake up.

Jake grabbed Tobias's shoulder. "Stop, Tobias," He demanded. "Talk to me. I'm sorry and it really sucks that you've been spending all this time hating me." He really did want to apologize and be friends with him again.


End file.
